“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”
Psalms 127:3-5
Pandemic Issues
The COVID pandemic has caused an extreme social strain on the fabric of our society. Our interaction with others has been limited, distanced, or totally eliminated. God designed us to be social and to interact with others. The foundation of our Christian faith is loving God and loving others. The loss of social interaction has created a dramatic increase in depression and anxiety related health issues. We are seeing this in our own communities and especially with teenagers.
Our Responsibility
Our children are not always the best at opening up and revealing their fears and emotions. It’s our responsibility as parents to constantly be on the lookout for the indicators. I’ve recently spoken with several MD5 men that have been very intentional about having consistent and frank discussions with their children.
Stay Intentional
Every father that goes through MD5 has numerous items in his Life Plan that include his children. There’s never been a more important time to be intentionally engaged with your children. Please take a minute and review your Life Plan and take a mental reset to the day you wrote your plan. We should continually be searching for ways to give time and energy to our children (and grandchildren for some).
Show Your Faith
I’ve recently talked to several men on this distribution that are dealing with teen suicides within their circle of friends and communities. Acts of kindness toward the grieving families goes a long way towards showing our faith. Opportunities for action are all around us. Let’s make good, God honoring, decisions now and eliminate regrets later.
“No man ever dies wishing he would have spent less time with his kids.” - Jamie Cottrell
Memory Moment Recommendation
I’m always looking for ideas for memory moments with my kids. Recently my daughter and I made the short drive to Romance, AR and explored the Romance Water Falls. From there we drove and had lunch in Heber Springs. After lunch in Heber, we drove five miles and hiked around the Bridal Veil Falls. All the Falls were beautiful. It’s a great time to see the falls because of the increased water flow and bare trees. For the price of a cheap lunch and about five gallons of gas, we had a great afternoon.
Roger Smithson
MD5 Lab Facilitator
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